Friday, November 6

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. 

“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.  And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’:  - Luke 16:19-26

This story that Jesus told has multiple layers of meaning. And as the story progresses, Jesus is showing us the reality of the next life.

Lazarus is carried to Abraham’s side (sometimes translated as “Abraham’s Bosom”). This is a metaphoric description of heaven - where there’s no more begging, no more sores, no more lying outside the gate, no more crumbs to fend for, no more hunger! True Israelites were expected to share with Abraham in the world to come. Abraham is regarded in Scripture as being not only the great patriarch (Hebrews 7:4) but also the father of all believers (Romans 4:11). To be considered a friend of Abraham was the highest honor possible and true happiness would be to spend eternity at his side. Paradise, Abraham’s bosom, heaven, God’s throne are all synonymous terms. 

Luke 23:43 - Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.

2 Cor. 12:4 - Paul was “caught up into Paradise”.

Rev 2:7 - To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.

The rich man ends up in the other place, the bad place, “H. E. double hockey sticks”, Hell, Hades, the underworld, place of punishment, place of perdition. The rich man calls out to Abraham (in this story they can see each other) and says that he is in agony in this fire – is it a real fire, are they real flames? I will occasionally have someone ask me if I believe that Hell is a real place.  I will sometimes respond that I think the fire in the NT is probably a metaphor. At this point the person breathes a little sigh and says something like, “yeah I think that too.” Then I will add that it is likely a metaphor for something infinitely worse! It is a generally accepted law of language that a figure of speech is less intense than the reality. If “fire” is merely a figurative expression, it must stand for some great reality, and if the reality is more intense than the figure, what an awful thing the punishment symbolized by fire must be. Theologian John Stott has called the attempts to describe the reality of Hell as describing the indescribable. Whatever hell is, it is real enough to the rich man in this story. It seems it is a very real agony from a very real torment.

What hell is, we know not; only this we know, that there is such a sure and certain place.

- Martin Luther

Abraham then states that it is absolutely impossible for Lazarus to come and help him now. There is a great chasm between Heaven and Hell that is fixed so that those who want to go from one place to the other cannot do it. There were many of these yawning gorges in Palestine that were impossible to cross. The lost and the redeemed are separated forever. There are no exit signs in Hell because it is a place of “eternal” torment.

Contrary to popular opinion, hell is not a place of one big long party with all of your buddies. None of the rich man’s “prayers” were answered nor could they be. The rich man in this story knows at least three things:

1. There is no way out for him.

2. People can avoid hell if they put their faith in Jesus.

3. People need to be warned about the danger they are in.

I don’t think the rich man in this story thought much about dying. He was too busy with life, too caught up in this world to even think about the next one. Lazarus, on the other hand, probably thought about death every day. He wondered if he would even wake up the next morning. The clock was ticking for both of them. 

Hell and judgment are not very popular topics in our culture, they aren’t even popular in our churches. I wouldn’t want to go to a church that always talked about hell. But I wouldn’t want to go to a church that never mentioned it either. However, the NT is clear and we ignore it to our own peril! God is just, sin will be punished, and hell is real. BUT, it does NOT have to be our eternal destiny!

Jeff Frazier